Clown Game
Chapter 375 - -4 Once Upon a Time II

Chapter 375: Chapter -4 Once Upon a Time II

"Impossible! You’re insane, you must have been infected by that guy too!!!" In a tavern, an old man wearing a green-and-yellow robe roared. At his age, the years had failed to leave any deeper marks on him, so there wasn’t much change in his appearance from a few years earlier except for his attire, which seemed excessively ancient, and the remnants of his temper.

"Crack." The sound of something being crunched, a chubby little man in a white lab coat casually threw away the lollipop stick: "Regardless, your single opinion doesn’t count, the ’Supreme Council’ only follows the rules! Minority abides by the majority."

The old man waved his hand in anger, "So what, the vote hasn’t started yet. If you remain deluded, I can easily lock you up too!"

"Heh, instead of spouting nonsense with that centuries-old tone of yours, why don’t you try me now!" The chubby man fearlessly cracked his sugary treat.

At that moment

"You guys... what are you doing?" Two disconnected words drifted from a corner of the bar.

Without notice, a huge figure had appeared there, sitting quietly in the dark corner where the light did not reach.

The chubby man rolled his eyes in vexation, "Nothing much, just having an argument!" he said reluctantly.

"Oh." The voice responded briefly and then fell silent again, seemingly not very interested in the matter.

And with this emotionally indifferent interruption, the old man and the young one ceased their quarrel, quietly waiting for the other two to arrive.

A little while later.

"Huff... huff..." A series of heavy breaths suddenly emerged, followed by a thick smell of gunpowder mixed with a pungent scent of blood. Accompanying a warp in space, a well-proportioned individual appeared right in front of the bar. At that moment, he was dressed in a glossy black combat suit, his body fully encased, although the suit was already riddled with flesh and blood, and... just listening to his breath one could tell he was male.

Indeed, he quickly removed his helmet, "Damn it, this new Anomalous Phenomenon is really tough, with no signs at all, and... as soon as the protective suit gets even slightly scraped, it gets contaminated!" he said, flinging his helmet to the ground, "I saw with my own eyes a few Class-A guys twist themselves into a meatball... and then fucking sprout tentacles!" he cursed and complained, starting to peel off his combat suit.

"How is it now? What’s the situation?" The old man asked with some concern.

"It’s okay, that woman’s blood is very effective!" The black-haired man pulled open his combat suit’s collar, as if finally taking a breath of relief, "Phew, just need to locate the original point of invasion, and we can wipe out this Anomalous Phenomenon."

"Of course, this woman represents ’sanctity and purity,’ those filthy things coming into contact with her blood will naturally be cleansed completely." The chubby man stated with a hint of smugness in his voice.

"Give it a rest, as if it’s that easy. Do you know how hard it is to find that point of invasion!" The black-haired man retorted irritably, pointing at several obvious scrapes on his suit, "Look at this! Look at this! If it weren’t for that new guy with the hard-to-pronounce name, the one with the precise shooting, I’d be a fucking meatball right now."

"Ah, ah, alright, alright. Our dear captain sure has it tough! Anyway, now that we’ve pretty much figured out the characteristics of this new Anomaly, once we mass-produce the protective suits, there’ll be no need for your Omega Squad to run around the world, right?" The chubby man joked, "Oh, by the way, this new S-Class Anomalous Phenomenon doesn’t have a name yet. We should come up with one, can’t keep calling it by a code number... How about we call it..."

"How is ’Dark Realm’ doing!" a woman’s voice interrupted.

All eyes turned in that direction. A well-dressed woman exuded an air of classical nobility and indolent luxury. She appeared to be only in her 30s, but everyone present knew that she was at least as old as the robed elder. At that moment, she gracefully descended the stairs of the bar’s main entrance, holding a notebook in her hand with a black pen clipped to it.

"Dark Realm? Whatever, it’s just good to have a name." said the man with black hair nonchalantly, then stood up, found a chair, and leaned on it wearily, "So everyone’s here, let’s get started. I heard you want to come up with something again?"

As he spoke, he looked towards the chubby man.

As soon as he finished speaking.

"I object. The products of Dimensional Materialization are too dangerous. This proposal must be terminated immediately, terminated permanently," the old man immediately made his stance clear.

"Heh, too dangerous? Without that winged woman, how would you deal with this ’Dark Realm’ Anomalous Phenomenon? Just watch as it devours everything bit by bit?" the chubby man retorted with biting sarcasm.

Shortly after.

"It seems this is only the beginning. It’s like gambling; the first round always gives you a taste of victory to see what you’ll get in the second round. One that can’t be caught, can’t be killed, and can wander in and out of other people’s thoughts at will... a madman..." The woman spoke calmly, seemingly siding with the old man.

Unexpectedly, the chubby man smiled slightly, "I was actually worried no one would mention this. In fact, I’ve already thought of a way to contain him."

Everyone’s expression turned grave.

Without beating around the bush, the chubby man continued, "Use people!"

"People?"

"Yes, use a person as the containment chamber, or better yet, call them a vessel. Preferably a madman, someone who’s on the same wavelength as that guy. Then, let him intrude into this person’s mind. While he’s having a grand time, we’ll seal off that person’s thoughts."

Everyone paused for a moment, looking at the chubby man as if he were a fool.

"What are you talking about? If we could have him stay inside someone’s brain, we would’ve done it long ago. But as you know, he’s a pure psychic entity. Hypnosis, brain death, mental poison, vegetative state, memory erasure—we’ve tried everything and nothing works. Even if we kill the vessel, he’ll just switch to someone else," said the man with black hair in a dispirited tone, "How many do we need to satisfy him each day now?"

"Around 120 volunteers a day. Recently, he’s nearly depleted our reserves of volunteers from over the years. It won’t be long before we have to go around with contracts again looking for death row inmates to sign, just like a century ago," the woman said helplessly.

"Alright, alright." The chubby man waved his hand to interrupt, "Of course, I’m aware of all that. So, what I need this time is someone who can truly suppress him..." The chubby man spoke with an air of superiority, "That’s why I’m applying to perform the ’Dimensional Materialization’ experiment once more—Property to materialize:... ’Sanity’"